Darfur rebel SLM reunites ahead of peace talks
Nov 26, 2005 (NDJAMENA) — Darfur’s main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said Saturday that its two rival factions had united behind a joint programme following reconciliation talks in the Chadian captial.
A rift had emerged in the SLM between founder Abdelwahed Mohamed al-Nur and the head of the military wing, Mani Arko Minawi, elected president on November 3.
“The SLM leaders have committed to going to Abuja (where peace talks are to resume) with a single agenda,” read a statement released following a “reconciliation” meeting which began on Thursday.
“They decided to create a joint committee to draft the single programme as well as their positions for the seventh round of peace talks” aimed at ending the 33-month-old Darfur conflict, the statement continued.
The SLM would respect the Ndjamena ceasefire accords and cooperate fully with both Chadian and African Union mediators and the international community and humanitarian organisations on the ground, it said.
Chad, a mediator in the Darfur conflict, had organised the reconciliation talks, which were also attended by French, German, Libyan, African Union and US diplomats.
However, one diplomat present said that despite progress on a joint agenda, the two rival leaders had failed to agree on sending a single delegation to the talks in Nigeria.
“After two days of mediation, we have not managed to put this movement under the leadership of one figure,” the diplomat said requesting anonymity.
The AU believes the SLM divisions are slowing progress in peace talks and have threatened sanctions on “all parties” blocking a resolution of the conflict.
The next round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups — the SLM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) — had been due to start on November 21 but was postponed for “logistical reasons”.
The African Union chief negotiator on Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, arrived in the Nigerian capital on Saturday with the next round of talks expected to open on “Monday or Tuesday”, according to the AU.
The Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003 when the rebels began fighting what they say is political and economic marginalisation of the region’s black African tribes by the Arab-led regime in Khartoum.
The combined effect of the 33-month-old war and a dire humanitarian crisis in the region has left up to 300,000 dead, according to a British parliamentary report. More than two million people were displaced.
(AFP/ST)